Underplayed Gems

The Stationmaster's Wife (1977)

The Stationmaster's Wife poster
Original title
Bolwieser
Directed by
Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Genre
drama film
Country
Germany
Runtime
3h 21m
Rating
5.5 of 10 from 13 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

A train station master in a small 1920s Bavarian town is unaware that his wife is having affairs with other men. The story follows his quiet life and the slow unraveling of their marriage.

cerebralslow-burnbleakunsettlingmelancholicclaustrophobictenseobservational

What happens

The Stationmaster's Wife (German: Bolwieser) is a 1977 German television serial directed and edited by Rainer Werner Fassbinder. It was made for German television and originally aired in 1973 as a two-part miniseries. It was based on the 1931 novel Bolwieser: The Novel of a Husband by Oskar Maria Graf. The plot revolves around railway station master Xaver Ferdinand Maria Bolwieser, who is unwittingly cuckolded by the town butcher and a hairdresser. Critic Vincent Canby, in his 1982 New York Times review, said the story, which is set in the fictional Bavarian town of Werburg in the 1920s, was reminiscent of Madame Bovary. The 1983 theatrical release was 90 minutes shorter than the 201 minute TV version. The theatrical cut had been finalized and approved in 1977, but the release was postponed due to legal and commercial reasons. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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